Eric Holcomb has been a top aide to Mitch Daniels and Dan Coats. As state party chairman, he helped elect scores of Republicans. Now he is the candidate. His goal is the GOP Senate nomination in 2016.

For a moment, Eric Holcomb had the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination to himself.

For a moment.

He entered the race in a hurry, making his decision in March, just a day after his now-former boss, Sen. Dan Coats, announced he would not seek another term next year. Holcomb, a popular and gregarious former state GOP chairman and a longtime top aide in the Daniels administration, hit the campaign trail immediately, calling on longtime friends and allies in Indiana’s small towns and its biggest cities.

Along the way, and as expected, an incumbent congressman entered the race. Then another. Suddenly, Holcomb found himself in a battle against Reps. Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young. Two rising Republican stars. Two men with bigger titles. Two men with more well-known names and — and this is important — deeper pools from which to raise money.

But as he sat over a cup of coffee at a Northside cafe Monday morning, Holcomb insisted that none of this concerned him. Sure, Young had announced raising $1 million in the most recent quarter, to Holcomb’s roughly $200,000. Yes, Stutzman was getting a boost from hard-charging conservative groups that question the credentials of anyone to the left of Ted Cruz. And, of course, the other candidates are already in elected office.

No worries, Holcomb insisted, arguing that campaigns are “not about what office you are running from but what office you’re running for, and what you will do. I am focused on the future, and not on past titles.”

Still, Holcomb has a resume that should help him. He’s a Navy veteran who was one of Mitch Daniels’ most trusted advisers, one who stuck around as party chairman during the first year of the Mike Pence administration. He is credited with repairing the strained relationships between Coats and the many conservative activists around Indiana who opposed his 2010 nomination, and he helped scores of Republicans win campaigns across the state during his time at the state party.

It’s those relationships, and the work he has done statewide, as opposed to in just one congressional district, that Holcomb said provides a path to the nomination. To make the point, he named county chairs and mayors who have endorsed him in the campaign’s early months, and hours spent in strategy sessions with Republican officeholders long before they were elected.

“It’s still very early,” he said. “But this is the time to build our organization, to build the foundation on which everything else will rest.”

The key, he said, is to build momentum “every day” so that his campaign is strong when voters grow more engaged come January. He raised $335,000 in the campaign’s first 100 days, which he said was on target even if it was just a fraction of Young’s take. He has campaigned in more than 70 of the state’s 92 counties.

Rarely a day passes without a photo on Twitter of Holcomb in some far-flung Indiana community, often shooting baskets at a community center or outside an old barn. He clearly has one built-in strength: He seems to love the campaign life.

As we talked, he shared a story of a recent afternoon spent partly in a thriving suburb in northern Indiana and then later in a hard-hit neighborhood in Elkhart. The 20-minute drive between the two sites, he said, was a reminder of the opportunities and the challenges facing Indiana, and of the need to pull together and understand that those who struggle the most need attention. It’s the kind of talk that has been missing from many GOP primary debates since — well, since Daniels’ had a primary challenge.

In the end, Holcomb, Stutzman and Young are closely aligned on most policy issues. The difference, particularly with Stutzman, who has been a fierce critic of even his own party’s leadership, is in tone. Holcomb is more likely to call for change with a smile and a Yogi Berra quote than with a fiery, angry speech.

His campaign will center on some basic questions, he said, such as “what are we doing to make ourselves safer and more economically competitive, and how is the federal government helping or hurting us do those things?”

Not that he lacks the red meat that many who will vote in next year’s primary will want and even demand. He said he was pleased that Pence recently “stood up to the federal government” over environmental regulations and said more governors should take such steps. He said Republicans have “endured a long six-and-a-half years of the current president’s reign,” and that all of the domestic and international problems make it seem “like this place is on fire.”

But the question remains: Can a 47-year-old party insider who has always been the guy behind the scenes find a path to the nomination despite the presence of two of the highest-profile politicians in the state? His odds are boosted by the vast Daniels network, from which many supporters and contributors will come. And he has held his own as those at the top of the party hierarchy begin to take sides.

But without as much money as his opponents, and without a House seat that is a guaranteed source of free publicity and campaign cash, it’s quite a challenge.

“It’s all about retail politics,” he argued, noting that he has one clear advantage: He is spending all of his time in Indiana, and not in Washington, D.C.

“My experience is and has been in Indiana,” he said. “I’ve been a part of the turnaround in Indiana. And, so, I can speak from a perspective of experience and credibility. I can talk about being a part of a team that accomplished the things we set out to do. And we did it in Indiana.”

The primary is still 10 months away. Holcomb’s path to the nomination is not clear. Not even close. But he certainly doesn’t seem worried about a pair of congressmen standing in his way.